Bonham Carter is the name of a family closely associated with the Liberal Party of the United Kingdom (UK). The family is related to Herbert Asquith , the Liberal prime minister from 1908 to 1916.
Lady Violet Bonham Carter
(1887-1969), Baroness Asquith of Yarnbury, was Asquith’s daughter. She became the first woman to serve as president of the Liberal Party, holding the office from 1945 to 1947. She was born in London . She married Sir Maurice Bonham Carter, her father’s private secretary. She was made a baroness in 1964.
Violet wrote several books, including British Democracy Today and Yesterday (1954) and Winston Churchill as I Knew Him (1965), which was published in the United States as Winston Churchill: An Intimate Portrait (1965). Collections of her letters and diaries were published in two volumes, Lantern Slides: The Diaries and Letters of Violet Bonham Carter, 1904-1914 (1996), and Daring to Hope: The Diaries and Letters of Violet Bonham Carter, 1946-1969 (2000).
Violet’s younger daughter, Laura, married Lord Grimond, who led the Liberal Party from 1956 to 1967 and again from May to July 1976.
Baron Bonham Carter of Yarnbury
(1922-1994), Mark Raymond Bonham Carter, the son of Lady Violet, was a member of Parliament for Torrington in 1958 and 1959. He became vice chairman of the Liberal Party Organizing Committee and a member of the Liberal Party Executive. He was also active in the field of race relations and the administration of the arts.
Helena Bonham Carter
(1966-…), the granddaughter of Lady Violet, is an actress who became known for her roles in motion pictures based on novels by the English author E. M. Forster , such as A Room with a View (1986), Maurice (1987), Where Angels Fear to Tread (1991), and Howards End (1992). She has starred in the film adaptation of Henry James ‘s The Wings of the Dove (1997) and several film adaptations of William Shakespeare ‘s plays, including Hamlet (1990) and Twelfth Night (1996). Her other movies include Lady Jane (1985), Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1994), Woody Allen ‘s Mighty Aphrodite (1995), Fight Club (1999), The King’s Speech (2010), and Les Misérables (2012). She has starred in several films by the American director Tim Burton , including a remake of the 1968 film Planet of the Apes (2001), Big Fish (2003), Corpse Bride and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (both 2005), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007), Alice in Wonderland (2010), and Dark Shadows (2012). She also starred in several films in the Harry Potter series, beginning with Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007). Helena’s father, Raymond Henry Bonham Carter, is the youngest son of Lady Violet.
